2 Samuel 11:4-13

11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. ¹  She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. ²  (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) ³  Then she returned to her home. 11:5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”

11:6 So David sent a message to Joab that said, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. ⁴  11:8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your home and relax.” ⁵  When Uriah left the palace, the king sent a gift to him. ⁶  11:9 But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all ⁷  the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.

11:10 So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?” 11:11 Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations ⁸  with my wife? As surely as you are alive, ⁹  I will not do this thing!” 11:12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. ¹⁰  11:13 Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.

[11:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”

[11:4]  ² tn Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”

[11:4]  ³ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.

[11:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “concerning the peace of Joab and concerning the peace of the people and concerning the peace of the battle.”

[11:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and wash your feet.”

[11:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and there went out after him the gift of the king.”

[11:9]  ⁷ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation lacks the word “all.”

[11:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “and lay.”

[11:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “as you live and as your soul lives.”

[11:12]  ¹⁰ tn On the chronology involved here see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 287.